'Mixed Feelings' for Worcester Fire Chief on Plea Deal
LON SLEPICKA
Firehouse.Com News
When a judge approved a plea agreement of a formerly homeless couple, Thomas
S. Levesque, 39, and Julie King, 22, of five years probation, after which
their involuntary manslaughter charges will be dismissed, it was a hollow
victory for Worcester Fire Chief Gerard Dio.
"The DA called me a couple of weeks ago and told me roughly that’s what they
were looking at. I asked why and he said it was the first time they gotten
anything from the courts that these people were baseline retarded."
Dio said the District Attorney suggested it would be difficult to win a
conviction in court with the circumstances now. "I have to rely on their
expertise. As regards to the justice system, I am not the lawyer here, I am
not the DA."
"From a personal point of view, I have mixed feelings about the whole
situation. It’s unfortunate we could not have separated the two of them. The
male individual has a license and he was smart enough to get a prepaid phone
card on a cellular phone and didn’t use it to call in the fire. I really had
to rely on the DA on this"
Chief Dio said he had had the opportunity to talk to some of the lost
firefighter’s family members. "I talked to a couple of them. One of them
felt this was the best they could do, and the other was not very happy at
all. She was very upset. There was no guilt here. I think she was right."
"If it was my husband or wife or son, I would probably not be happy about
it. But once the DA made that decision you have to accept it. This is it. It
isn’t like give me option two now. You don’t have a choice here. The DA has
decided this is the best he can do for us. That’s it. We have to accept it
and move on."
Chief Dio went on to say, "The positive factor here, at least we have some
case law here. It has gone through the supreme court and anybody else who
starts a fire by accident has to report it. If they don’t they are subject
to the law. On the books now in the state of Massachusetts, it is against
the law to start a fire and not report it."
Asked if this would bring some sort of closure to the tragic event, Chief
Dio said, "It is never over for us. We remember the guys. They are always in
our thoughts. Maybe it won’t be in the public eye and maybe they will forget
it, but we will never forget it."
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